They are the dinner party guests nobody wants to sit next to, lest their careful attitude to food makes us feel guilty for tucking in – or they judge our meal choices.

But are self-proclaimed healthy eaters really looking after their bodies as well as they think? We asked four volunteers – who live by different ‘healthy eating’ regimes – to keep a food diary for a week.

We then had their diets, and their vital statistics, analysed by experts: Dr David Haslam, a GP and Chair of National Obesity Forum; Alison Clark, a dietician with the British Dietetic Association; Jackie Lynch, a nutritional therapist; and Dr Jonty Heaversedge, a GP in a large practice in South-East London.

Diet woes: Are self-proclaimed healthy eaters really looking after their bodies as well as they think?

The shocking results show that these men and women could be storing up long-term problems.

‘These four approaches represent very common diets, from high protein to cutting animal products. But they need to be interpreted with caution – and if possible with proper dietary advice,’ says Alison Clark.

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‘The problem is that they are interpreting the regime slightly differently – and in fact at times totally missing the point. In my clinic I am always seeing people who think they’re healthy but when you closely analyse their diet, it has major problems – like being too high in salt and sugar or too low in fibre.’

Here we show a one-day snapshot of the so-called healthy eaters’ diet habits, a nutritional analysis and the experts’ surprising verdicts...

THE HEALTH FOOD FREAK

Model Louise Bee, 23, is single and lives in Brighton.

Model behaviour: Louise Bee eats six times a day, consuming seven times the normal protein

Louise says: Maintaining a well proportioned and healthy-looking body is my job. I do this by eating five to six small high-protein meals a day, and

I do also have occasional days off when I will have a glass of white wine or some high-cocoa dark chocolate. I also treat myself to a pizza occasionally.

I am quite obsessive, and weigh everything I eat. It’s a chore but I know exactly what I’m putting into my body – and I don’t see how other people can happily just shovel whatever into their mouths. I know by looking in the mirror that I’m doing what’s best for my health.

Alison says: She looks in shape but on some days Louise eats more than seven times the recommended amount of protein – 45g for a woman, and 55g for a man.

This won’t give her more muscle, as the body can only utilise so much protein. The rest will be excreted by the kidneys. The concern is heart disease. Her carbohydrate intake is ridiculously low and that can cause tiredness, lethargy, dizziness and irritability.

Jackie says: Louise is eating large amounts of chicken and turkey. She could still maintain her goals with a better balance of animal and plant protein, by eating more lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts, seeds, wheatgrass and quinoa, which would add fibre. A lack of fibre could promote a hormone imbalance and increase the risk of oestrogen-dominant conditions such as fibroids or endometriosis. Increasing veg intake should be a key priority.

Jonty says: This reads more like a list of ingredients than appetising meals. We should nourish our minds as well as our bodies and Louise’s diet looks like a military operation with no pleasure from food. But I can see nothing that would immediately put health at risk.

David says: It’s nutritious, but I’d worry about Louise’s obsessive nature and how sustainable it is to have six such carefully planned meals a day.

THE WANNABE VEGAN

Carolyn English, 41, works as an ambulance driver and lives in Peterborough, with husband Kevin, 49, who manages a local hospital radio station, and their children Connor, 16, and Sasha, 15, Rose, ten, and Tor, eight.

Call emergency food services: Carolyn English works as an ambulance driver and consumes more sugar and salt than the healthy recommendations

Carolyn says: I’ve been vegetarian since my 20s and the whole family is the same. Although it’s mainly an ethical choice, I know it’s also the healthier option as meat is pumped with chemicals and additives. We try to be vegan as much as possible – not eating any animal products – but not very successfully, and we keep our own hens for eggs, so I know they’re well looked after. I take iron supplements for anaemia.

Jackie says: She is relying too much on processed foods: frozen sausages and chips are not a home-cooked meal. Processed food is high in salt and sugar – her intake is far higher than the recommended daily amount. She is taking in almost 50 per cent more than the 6g daily salt limit, risking high blood pressure. Carolyn should swap some of the quorn in her food diaries for kidney beans or chickpeas and sugary snacks for raw almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds – good sources of iron and protein.

Jonty says: Being a healthy weight doesn’t mean you are healthy. This diet is far from wise. Ironically for a vegetarian, she has barely any fruit or veg and her fibre intake is too low.

Alison says: Cutting out milk might mean she is at risk of osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) later in life. Other sources of calcium include calcium-enriched dairy-free alternatives to milk, soya beans, tofu, nuts and seeds.

David says: She is eating far too much sugar and refined carbs: bread, chocolates and fruit juice. No wonder she needs a second breakfast. White toast and jam will send blood sugar soaring – then crash, causing her to reach for food again. She is lucky to have a normal BMI as she’s eating about 750 calories more than the recommended 2,000 for a woman.

THE YO-YO DIETER

Housewife Laraine Dix, 52, lives in Dorking, Surrey, with husband Alan, 57, a special needs teacher, and children Christopher, 20, and Charlotte, 16.

Up and down: Housewife Laraine has been dieting her whole life, which has had an detrimental effect on the way she eats

Laraine says: I’m always counting calories. When I was younger I tried a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet and last year tried the 5:2 diet, but while I lost weight, after a few weeks it all went back on. I’ve always wanted to be slimmer and I find it difficult to lose the extra pounds. I’m always trying to lose weight. I’m a dress size 14, which is the biggest I’ve been, but I want to lose a stone and be a size 12. I don’t overeat – some days if I’m busy I don’t eat much at all. I try to choose organic food and always eat a wholewheat-type breakfast with a grain sandwich for lunch. Dinner is fish and rice.

Alison says: Once the weight is off, it’s important to keep to a healthy, balanced diet but Laraine’s ‘normal’ eating starts again – so it is no surprise the weight comes back on. Her daily diet is high-calorie, high in sugar and refined carbs and low in wholegrains or fibrous veg. Yo-Yo dieting is not good for your health and she could be at risk of obesity-related illness such as heart attacks, stroke, diabetes and even certain cancers.

Jackie says: Laraine is like many women who have been dieting on and off for years: obsessed with calories as the route to weight loss, restricting eating for a few days and then suddenly letting herself go with a heavy roast dinner or pizza. If she ate the same amount of calories in lean meat or fish, and included more fibre and vegetables rather than chocolate, cakes and sugar, she’d be in very different shape.

Jonty says: Laraine’s diet is full of ready-made food, which is high in salt. Salt makes the body retain water, increasing blood pressure and making us more prone to a stroke or heart attack. She needs to prepare meals from scratch, adding herbs to taste rather than salt.

David says: It’s not surprising Laraine is finding is hard to shift weight as her diet has too many high-glycaemic foods such as rice, pizza, chocolate, desserts, bread and bananas. She needs to replace these with higher-protein alternatives such as nuts and swap fruit juice for water.

THE FASTING FANATIC

Adam Rabinowitz, 43, works as a project manager and lives with his partner in Ilford, Essex.

Indulgent: Adam, a project manager, eats too much even on a fasting day

Adam says: I’ve always been slim – although the weight has crept on as I reached my 40s. For the past six weeks I’ve been on the 5:2 diet where you eat normally for five days of the week and consume about 600 calories on two days. I don’t have the self-control to deny myself any particular food, so it appeals. So far I’ve lost half a stone but I’d like the rest to fall off quicker as ideally I’d like to weigh about 13st.

Alison says: Underestimating the calories from food is a common mistake, and on his fasting day Adam consumed 2,135 calories – not the 600 he was aiming for. Still, this is better that what he normally eats, hence the modest weight loss – which his waist measurement shows he needs to do. His food diaries show he begins most days with a full English breakfast, followed by a two-course lunch, a three-course dinner and numerous sugary snacks – one day he ate 5,000 calories.

David says: Adam is grazing on far too many carb-based foods – desserts, chocolate bars and crisps – without a care in the world as he believes, wrongly, that he’s following a healthy diet. This uncontrolled grazing could cause his cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure to rise.

Jackie says: I’m not a fan of the feast or famine idea, as with fasting comes an increase of the hormone ghrelin, which regulates appetite, and this can lead to binge-eating. If Adam cut out the desserts, confectionery and sugary drinks and stuck to his healthy main meals, he’d achieve his weight-loss goal more easily.

Jonty says: His fasting days involve more calories than most people eat daily – the snacks alone, which include two chocolate bars, add up to 600 calories. He’d be healthier just eating moderately daily.